A crooked match, a reflection of a European Championship played amidst confusion and the fear of making mistakes: Luciano Spalletti was condemned by newspapers after his poor performance against Swiss: “The Italy that had in mind remained there, incapable, also hit by balls from Switzerland. We didn’t deserve it”, we read on Corriere dello Sport. Same opinion regarding The Sports Gazette: “They all look like beautiful statuettes who have never played, but they were placed badly. Too many changes in tactics, wrong choices, zero pressing, 4 times down and always conceding. Question: did the coach ask for it or were they unable to do so?
Serious insufficiency also for TMW: “He was called last August to propose an Italy based on beautiful football, more than ten months later we left the European Championship and we still haven’t understood how Italy plays. He wanted an Italy capable of doing everything, he continually changed the formation and players, confusing everyone. Granted, this may not be a team with great champions but it could have played better than this. It should have played much better than this. Now it’s time for him to make some assessments: is he really suited to the role of coach?”.
Spalletti’s report cards
TMW: 3
Gazzetta dello Sport: 4
Corriere dello Sport: 4
Allsport: 3
Evening Courier: 3
The Republic: 4